The IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 TOP GUN Miramar In Ceramic & Steel (Incl. Video)

For quite some years now, IWC Schaffhausen has been playing around with colours and ceramics under the name of Colours of TOP GUN. Inspired by various elements of the famous US Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Program, better known as TOP GUN, the sub-collection exclusively uses ceramic for its cases. Until now, that is, as IWC expands the range with a new colour, and makes it available in a steel case for the first time ever! Here’s the IWC Schaffhausen Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Miramar collection!

IWC’s history in aviation timekeeping goes back a long way, as it produced its first dedicated pilot’s watch back in 1936. Fifty years later, IWC introduces a virtually scratch-proof Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar, kickstarting a legacy in ceramics. Combine these two chapters, and you end up with a highly resilient sub-collection which finds inspiration in the famous TOP GUN flight school. The result is a series of different tones for the high-tech Zirconium Oxide ceramic. Ranging from Jet Black to Lake Tahoe White, and from Woodland Green and Mojave Desert beige to Oceana Blue, there has been plenty of choice across the collection.

Now, though, IWC adds a fresh new colour with a surprising name: Miramar! Which is not to be mistaken for the 2016 Pilot’s Watch Mark XVIII TOP GUN Miramar, mind you! But, and this is important, we now see a TOP GUN colour in a stainless steel watch for the first time! The overall design is pretty straightforward, as both use the very well-known Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 as a base. That means it measures 41.9mm across, and 15.5mm in height, has a typical 6/9/12 tricompax layout, a day-date window to balance things out, and is very legible altogether.

Things get interesting, though, with the IW389409, the full ceramic TOP GUN edition. The Miramar blue, taken from the t-shirts that are worn by TOP GUN instructors underneath their flight suits, is a sort of mid-blue. It’s not ice-blue, nor is it Oceana Blue. The matte finish tones things down a bit, so it’s not flashy whatsoever.

The colour also finds its way to the dial and hands, which are finished with white markers, scales, numerals and inserts that glow up at night thanks to Super-LumiNova. The contrast remains very strong despite the change in colour, which is key in a pilot’s watch. The recessed subdials are for the chronograph 30-minute and 12-hour counters, and the running small seconds display. On the right, a double day-date window completes the indications.

The dial is covered by a sapphire crystal secured against drops in pressure so it doesn’t pop out. The caseback is also in titanium and is engraved with the TOP GUN logo. This covers IWC’s calibre 69380 in-house automatic column wheel chronograph. Running at a frequency of 28,800vph and delivering 46 hours of power reserve, it’s protected from magnetism by a soft-iron inner case.

Moving to the IW388117, IWC mixes things up with a stainless steel case, crown and pushers. What’s important to know is that this is the first time a colour previously reserved for the ceramic TOP GUN range is used in a non-ceramic case! So that means we get the same Miramar blue as its full ceramic sibling, with only one simple change: the hands. Instead of having a blue outline, all hands are rhodium-plated. For the rest, it remains untouched. This uses the IWC Calibre 69385 (technically identical to the 69380, but without the soft-iron inner case), but here it’s visible through a sapphire crystal caseback. In terms of water-resistance, it’s on par with the full ceramic IW389409.

Both watches come on a supple Miramar blue rubber strap with a folding clasp. These also feature IWC’s convenient EasX-Change quick release system, should you want to swap them out for something else. The full ceramic TOP GUN Miramar is limited to 1,000 pieces and retails for a rather substantial EUR 14,100 incl. VAT, while the stainless steel Miramar is added to the permanent collection for a price of EUR 7,800 incl. taxes.

The Colours of TOP GUN has always been a proving ground for IWC when it comes to colour, and this one is no exception. Their pilots’ watches are simply among the best, and add to that the resilience of ceramics, and you end up with an expressive, ultra-robust flight instrument. And if you love the new Miramar Blue colour but are not that into ceramic cases, you now have a stainless steel alternative! And what’s not to like about having options?

For more information, please visit IWC.com.